Shopify for B2B: wholesale ordering that buyers will use

What B2B buyers need that retail does not

A retail store treats every visitor alike. A trade store knows who is buying. A buyer at a company expects negotiated prices, a purchase order number field, a net 30 option, multiple people ordering under one account, and a fast way to repeat last month's order.

Shopify supports many of these through its B2B features, which have been tied to certain plans, and through apps. Plan access has changed over time, so check Shopify's current plan page before you decide. We confirm this against your needs in the first call.

Features and how they are met

The shape of your pricing decides the effort. Five price tiers by customer group are easy. Contract prices per customer per product, updated nightly from an ERP, are an integration project.

Test with two real buyers before launch. Ask them to place a reorder, change a delivery address and find an invoice. Their friction points are the ones that decide whether they use the portal or keep emailing.

Combine wholesale and retail, or separate

Many brands sell both to consumers and to shops. One store with a gated wholesale section keeps products in one place but exposes more risk of pricing confusion. A separate wholesale store is cleaner for pricing and branding but doubles upkeep. Shopify's multi-market and catalog tools often let one store serve both, and the choice depends on how different your trade range is.

Whichever structure you pick, keep wholesale prices out of search results by gating them behind login, and keep retail pages indexable. Our Shopify SEO work covers this.

When another platform fits better

If you have thousands of SKUs with complex per-account pricing, deep ERP workflows, punch-out catalogs for large buyers or heavily configurable products, a platform built for B2B, or a custom portal, may serve you better. BigCommerce also has B2B tooling; see Shopify vs BigCommerce. If you need dealer portals with approvals and credit limits, custom web app development may be cleaner.

If your buyers mostly email a purchase order and you have a small range, a simpler solution may be enough: a retail store with a wholesale application form and draft orders.

Tax, terms and account application

Wholesale buyers are often tax-exempt for resale and need to give a certificate. Shopify lets you mark a company as tax exempt, but the paperwork remains yours. Check with your accountant on resale certificates, VAT reverse charge and cross-border rules. Credit terms should be agreed by a person; a form can collect trade references.

Document who may approve credit terms, and how a customer is moved from a retail account to a trade account. A short written process stops mispriced orders in the first month.

How the work runs and price

We work remotely from Pune. We map your price tiers and buyer types, set up companies, catalogs and payment terms, connect your accounting or ERP where an API exists, and train your sales team on draft orders. See Shopify development for our process. Projects start at $1,500 and our rate is $30 an hour. A simple trade section is near the minimum; custom pricing logic and ERP sync add scope. Details are on Shopify store cost, and Shopify vs Shopify Plus explains plan differences.